The End of Faith

Here is an impassioned plea for reason in a world divided by faith. This important and timely work delivers a startling analysis of the clash of faith and reason in today's world. Harris offers a vivid historical tour of mankind's willingness to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs, even when those beliefs are used to justify harmful behavior and sometimes heinous crimes.

The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values

In this explosive new book, Sam Harris tears down the wall between scientific facts and human values, arguing that most people are simply mistaken about the relationship between morality and the rest of human knowledge. Harris urges us to think about morality in terms of human and animal well-being, viewing the experiences of conscious creatures as peaks and valleys on a "moral landscape".

Free Will

A belief in free will touches nearly everything that human beings value. It is difficult to think about law, politics, religion, public policy, intimate relationships, morality—as well as feelings of remorse or personal achievement—without first imagining that every person is the true source of his or her thoughts and actions. And yet the facts tell us that free will is an illusion.

Lying

As it was in Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, and Othello, so it is in life. Most forms of private vice and public evil are kindled and sustained by lies. Acts of adultery and other personal betrayals, financial fraud, government corruption - even murder and genocide - generally require an additional moral defect: a willingness to lie. In Lying, bestselling author and neuroscientist Sam Harris argues that we can radically simplify our lives and improve society by merely telling the truth in situations where others often lie.

Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue

In this short book, Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz invite you to join an urgently needed conversation: Is Islam a religion of peace or war? Is it amenable to reform? Why do so many Muslims seem drawn to extremism? What do words like Islamism, jihadism, and fundamentalism mean in today's world? Remarkable for the breadth and depth of its analysis, this dialogue between a famous atheist and a former radical is all the more startling for its decorum. Harris and Nawaz have produced something genuinely new: they engage one of the most polarizing issues of our time - fearlessly and fully - and actually make progress.

Andre Wallace Simonsen says:"Must read for an honest debate on the topics"

God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

In the tradition of Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris' recent best-seller, The End of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos.

Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion

From multiple New York Times best-selling author, neuroscientist, and "new atheist" Sam Harris, Waking Up is for the 30 percent of Americans who follow no religion, but who suspect that Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Rumi, and the other saints and sages of history could not have all been epileptics, schizophrenics, or frauds.

The God Delusion

Discover magazine recently called Richard Dawkins "Darwin's Rottweiler" for his fierce and effective defense of evolution. Prospect magazine voted him among the top three public intellectuals in the world (along with Umberto Eco and Noam Chomsky). Now Dawkins turns his considerable intellect on religion, denouncing its faulty logic and the suffering it causes.

Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

For all the thousands of books that have been written about religion, few until this one have attempted to examine it scientifically: to ask why - and how - it has shaped so many lives so strongly. Is religion a product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Is it truly the best way to live a moral life? Ranging through biology, history, and psychology, Daniel C. Dennett charts religion’s evolution from “wild” folk belief to “domesticated” dogma.

Why There Is No God: Simple Responses to 20 Common Arguments for the Existence of God

Why There Is No God provides simple, easy-to-understand counterpoints to the most popular arguments made for the existence of God. Each chapter presents a concise explanation of the argument, followed by a response illustrating the problems and fallacies inherent in it. Whether you're an atheist, a believer, or undecided, this book offers a solid foundation for building your own inquiry about the concept of God.

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution

The Greatest Show on Earth is a stunning counterattack on advocates of "Intelligent Design," explaining the evidence for evolution while exposing the absurdities of the creationist "argument". Dawkins sifts through rich layers of scientific evidence: from living examples of natural selection to clues in the fossil record; from natural clocks that mark the vast epochs wherein evolution ran its course to the intricacies of developing embryos; from plate tectonics to molecular genetics.

Hitch-22: A Memoir

Over the course of his 60 years, Christopher Hitchens has been a citizen of both the United States and the United Kingdom. He has been both a socialist opposed to the war in Vietnam and a supporter of the U.S. war against Islamic extremism in Iraq. He has been both a foreign correspondent in some of the world's most dangerous places and a legendary bon vivant with an unquenchable thirst for alcohol and literature.

God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction

Originally conceived as a joint presentation between influential thinker and best-selling author Richard Dawkins and former evangelical preacher Dan Barker, this unique book provides an investigation into what may be the most unpleasant character in all fiction. Barker combs through both the Old and New Testaments (as well as 13 different editions of the "Good Book"), presenting powerful evidence for why Scripture shouldn't govern our everyday lives.

The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

Struggling to reconcile the Muslim society he was living in as a scientist and physician and the religion he was being raised in, Ali A. Rizvi eventually lost his faith. Discovering that he was not alone, he moved to North America and promised to use his new freedom of speech to represent the voices that are usually quashed before reaching the mainstream media - those of Atheist Muslims.

Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism

Religious fundamentalists and biblical literalists present any number of arguments that attempt to disprove evolution. Those with a sympathetic ear often fail to critically examine these creationist claims, leading to an ill-informed public and, perhaps more troubling, ill-advised public policy. As Aron Ra makes clear, however, every single argument deployed by creationists in their attacks on evolution is founded on fundamental scientific, religious, and historical falsehoods - all of them.

Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

Part 1 of Godless, "Rejecting God", tells the story of how I moved from devout preacher to atheist and beyond. Part 2, "Why I Am an Atheist", presents my philosophical reasons for unbelief. Part 3, "What's Wrong with Christianity", critiques the bible (its reliability as well as its morality) and the historical evidence for Jesus. Part 4, "Life Is Good!", comes back to my personal story, taking a case to the United States Supreme Court, dealing with personal trauma, and experiencing the excitement of Adventures in Atheism.

A Manual for Creating Atheists

For thousands of years, the faithful have honed proselytizing strategies and talked people into believing the truth of one holy book or another. Indeed, the faithful often view converting others as an obligation of their faith - and are trained from an early age to spread their unique brand of religion. The result is a world broken in large part by unquestioned faith. As an urgently needed counter to this tried-and-true tradition of religious evangelism, this audiobook offers the first-ever guide not for talking people into faith - but for talking them out of it.

Ham: Slices of a Life: Essays and Stories

In 16 brilliantly observed true stories, Sam Harris emerges as a natural humorist in league with David Sedaris, Chelsea Handler, Carrie Fisher, and Steve Martin, but with a voice uniquely his own. Praised by the Chicago Sun-Times for his "manic, witty commentary", and with a storytelling talent the New York Times calls "New Yorker - worthy," he puts a comedic spin on full-disclosure episodes from his own colorful life. What better place to find painfully funny material than in growing up gay, gifted, and ambitious in the heart of the Bible belt?

Publisher's Summary

"Forty-four percent of the American population is convinced that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead sometime in the next 50 years," writes Sam Harris. "Imagine the consequences if any significant component of the U.S. government actually believed that the world was about to end and that its ending would be glorious. The fact that nearly half of the American population apparently believes this, purely on the basis of religious dogma, should be considered a moral and intellectual emergency."

In response to his award-winning best seller The End of Faith, Sam Harris received thousands of letters from Christians excoriating him for not believing in God. Letter to A Christian Nation is his courageous and controversial reply. Using rational argument, Harris offers a measured refutation of the beliefs that form the core of fundamentalist Christianity. Addressing current topics ranging from intelligent design and stem-cell research to the connections between religion and violence, Letter to A Christian Nation boldly challenges the influence that faith has on public life in the United States.

Harris' appeal to the Christian masses is both poignant and respectful. Without using straw men, he clearly articulates some of the major issues with religion and its effects on modern day life. Throughout his letter he remains appropriately considerate of his thoughts' potential shortcomings, which is a refreshing change from the arrogance of some other notable atheist scholars.

This is a very important work and is something everyone should listen to.

This is like a "God Delusion" pared down and easy to listen to. It was well written, excellent narration. Cuts to the chase. I've already listened to it twice and will listen to it again from time to time to get a refresher.

Sam Harris has written this short work as a follow-up to his earlier book THE END OF FAITH (also available now from Audible).

Although titled in a way that suggests that christianity is the target of Harris' analyses and arguments (or, of that christian variant that insists the USA is, or should be, a "christian nation") don't let that mislead you.

It is actually a hyper-rationalist critique of religion in general, christianity simply providing the framework for structuring the arguments.

The work is well read and sufficiently short (a bit under two hours) that most would probably benefit from listening two or three times, at least to have given all the arguments a fair hearing.

An enormous amount of material is covered in the book and it would be no surprise to find that one argument or another triggered so emotional a reaction in the listener that portions of subsequent material were missed.

The book is a challenge to the religious, a challenge to apply the same rationality to religion and religious beliefs that we commonly apply to all other aspects of our world and lives.

Give this work a serious listen and you'll never deserve to be targeted by Socrates' "The unexamined life is not worth living"

This is a great book, but should not have been necessary. The End of Faith should have been sufficient and I recommend starting there. If you are not prepared to put in the extra time, then this is the one for you.

Sam Harris gets my vote for the bravest man in America and the most rational, too.

No body likes athiests; they are reviled by all. Yet Sam Harris has stood up and said enough already with God, with all religions. He poignantly argues his point that religion isn't working so maybe we should try something else...how about reason. He says that no one has ever died from too much knowledge or reason.

This work is concise. He gets straight to the point and doesn't waste your time. I agree with the other reviewers who say that this should be required reading (and thinking) by all. We need a different paradigm in which to see the world if we are going to move forward. Sam Harris provides a new paradigm and is thinking outside the box. Are we going to continue our insane wishful thinking or are we going to make a change in time to save ourselves and to progress?

This book resonated for me as few before, but I've yet to see any comments on the reader, Jordan Bridges. This is among the finest and most engaging readings of a any work I've acquired. While not perfect, Bridges hits Harris' tone and intent time after time, matching him almost note for note. At times angry, sarcastic, witty, emotive and always passionate, this is a very fine effort that deserves recognition and respect. I hope we are lucky enough to hear Harris' next work read by Bridges.

In Letter to a Christian Nation, Sam Harris very succintly lays out the dangers of religious dogma. It contained many of the same points as 'The End of Faith,' but is much more focused. I'd recommend that people start with Letter to a Christian Nation and then read End of Faith if they'd like to get deeper on any of the topics.

Mr. Harris' answers to his critics (Christians) is short concise and to the point. If you choose to live in the real world, you will love this book. On the other hand, if you choose to believe in talking serpents and virgin births this is not a book you will enjoy. The truth will be too painful for you.

The comedian Bill Hicks once said "Folks, it's time to evolve. That's why we're troubled. You know why our institutions are failing us, the church, the state, everything's failing? It's because, um – they're no longer relevant. We're supposed to keep evolving. Evolution did not end with us growing opposable thumbs. You do know that, right?"Sam Harris presents the reasoning behind Bill's statement. I'm grateful for that. And I miss Bill.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Judy Corstjens

2/10/11

Overall

"Not easy listening for religious types"

...but they probably will not even try, which is the pity with this type of book. Sam Harris is thoughtful, clever, funny and scary. It might seem expensive for only 1 hour 56 mins - but I think you'll want to listen to it twice.